September 2015: Income & Expenses

    It feels like I only just wrote about what I earned and spent in September, but apparently it has been an entire year since! I find it interesting to compare how I am fairing from year to year, seeing the changes in where my income is coming from and where I spend my money. From the snapshots between September 2014 and 2015 it looks like I worked less, made about the same in Other/Bonus income, but more than doubled my dividend income!

    This months work income is fairly characteristic of most months, and I am expecting to see an increase in that area as I pick up more hours due to increased customers at my work location. Bonus income was roughly as expected, thank you provincial payment! It pays to properly file your taxes, especially when in a lower income tax bracket you do not want to miss out on 'free money' opportunities!
   
    Dividend income was nothing spectacular, being the third month in the quarter, where I mostly receive only monthly dividend payments. Dividends, even at a lower than average amount still represented 5.1% of my overall income. However, I did receive more than the last third month of the previous quarter in June. And the next time around my recent purchase of Manulife Financial will be adding its quarterly dividend as well.

Income	$
Work	1261.84
Bonus	56.54
Dividends	71.85
Total	1390.26

    My expenses for the month ended up being just under my YTD average of $1,200, which is always nice. Although I would love to cut down my monthly costs more, there isn't too much to cut down on without sacrificing heavily on the little things I enjoy a lot. Although there is room for improvement in the Restaurant/Eating out category, but some special occasions and celebrations certainly warrant going out. All in all, my total monthly budget is close to what some people spend on food alone in a month!

Expenses	$
Rent	750
Phone	28.5
Travel	141.5
Groceries	101.03
Restaurants	89.59
Entertainment	65.31
Other	0
Total	1181.88

    Overall September made for an on point month, with income hitting just $10 short of what I set my current projected monthly income at. As well as falling $18 under my average monthly costs. Which has put my monthly savings rate at 15%, which is not bad especially considering I work at near minimum wage in expensive Toronto.

    And my dividends continue to represent a considerable asset to me, with 100% of dividend income being saved right away within my brokerage account. Not to mention, as a long term goal of eventually gaining financial independence, this months dividends covered 6% of my monthly expenses.